Audit reveals Northern Samar’s P58M shortfall in tax, benefit remittances

MANILA, Philippines – The provincial government of Northern Samar has withheld over P165 million in taxes, including some P29 million from previous years, but has only remitted P118 million to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as of 2023, leaving a balance of more than P46 million, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

The COA also reported discrepancies in remittances for personnel contributions and loan payments deducted from employees’ pay in 2023. Despite deductions totaling P173.428 million, only P169.59 million was remitted to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

They also noted that provincial government workers’ contributions to the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) amounting to P13.575 million, only P11.054 million was remitted.

For the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), only P14.695 million was remitted out of the total P19.788 million in contributions, according to the COA.

State auditors flagged the under-remittances, stating they deprive the government of crucial revenues and could result in some provincial personnel being denied full benefits and services.

The COA’s 2023 report, released on May 13, showed the provincial government’s year-end payables totaling P58.38 million, comprising P46.92 million to the BIR, P5.09 million to PhilHealth, P3.84 million to GSIS, and P2.52 million to the Pag-IBIG Fund.

Auditors emphasized that ideally, balances for BIR, GSIS, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth should be zero after remitting the withheld amounts on time. However, this was not strictly followed, auditors said.

The audit team recommended that the provincial governor instruct the provincial accountant to pay all unremitted contributions and update the books to reflect accurate payables. The COA said the provincial accountant assured the audit team that reconciliation of the accounts was already in progress during their exit conference in March. – Rappler.com